An Interior Designer Reveals How To Maximize Holiday Seating Without Sacrificing Style

The joy of home entertaining at the holidays often comes with a
challenge: How do you provide enough seating for a roomful of
holiday revelers with just a sofa and a few chairs?

Are there creative options besides resorting to folding chairs?

Los Angeles-based interior designer Betsy Burnham frequently
hears from clients who want help solving this puzzle. "People are
doing more home entertaining than ever," Burnham says, so they
want to design their living space to accommodate guests easily.
For those without huge rooms, that can be challenging.

"I'm a big fan of vintage ottomans, stools and sturdy side tables
like stumps for this exact purpose," says Schuneman, author of
"The First Apartment Book: Cool Design for Small Spaces"
(Clarkson Potter, 2012). These pieces can work as tables or
storage surfaces, he says, then occasionally serve "as extra
seating for game nights or casual gatherings around the coffee
table."

Benches can work the same way. Schuneman suggests buying two
benches that coordinate nicely with the decor of your living
room, and then placing them at the foot of beds in your home.

When extra seating is needed, "you can easily pull them out for
the holidays and bigger dinners," he says. "And you have a
cohesive looking space, as opposed to a bunch of stuff you just
pulled from around the garage."

Flynn, founder and editor of decordemon.com, uses ottomans in a
similar way. "What I often do is use an upholstered or hardy wood
storage ottoman on casters instead of a coffee table in the sofa
area," he says. "Inside the storage ottoman, I keep floor
cushions.

When it's time for guests, the ottoman can be wheeled just about
anywhere as extra seating, and the floor cushions allow guests to
lounge."

Burnham points out that using ottomans or benches may be more
appropriate in a casual family room or great room than in a more
formal living room. But even for formal spaces, an elegant
ottoman can work: "Done well, it's a beautiful way to bring
another fabric into your space," she says.

Chairs from Elsewhere

Flynn often uses a mixture of different chairs and benches at a
dining room table year-round, rather than a matching set. The
look is stylish, and when chairs need to be brought into a living
room for a party, they don't necessarily look like they're been
taken from the dining room set. The mix can include "a
three-seater bench, squatty stools, armless chairs, six chairs
and a pair of wingbacks at each end," he says.

Another option he suggests: "Bring in your outdoor seating and
deliberately mix it in with the indoor pieces. The juxtaposition
can be nice, plus you can coordinate them with similar colored
cushions or accessories."

Burnham does something similar with seating from game tables: A
poker table with four chairs can be a great way to fill one
corner of a room, she says, and those four chairs can be placed
elsewhere in the room during a larger party.

The Right Sofa

Pay attention to size and depth when choosing a sofa, Burnham
says. "A standard-size sofa is 7 feet. If you have three seat
cushions, people sit in a pristine way in their cushion," she
says, and you'll be limited to a maximum of three guests on your
sofa. She prefers "sofas that have bench seams, so that it's one
big seat," making it more likely that four guests might use the
space.

Longer sofas offer additional seating, but Flynn says they're
best used in what he calls a "floating space plan," where two
identical long sofas are placed across from one another in the
center of a room, rather than having one sofa against a wall.
They need to be "balanced with an extra-long coffee table," he
says.

Sofas with deep cushions are another option, but Flynn points out
that "extra-deep sofas are very tricky. They are insanely
comfortable, but can be a space planning disaster. I only use
them in super large or grand living rooms. ... You've got to
ensure the tables and chairs which surround it have the same
visual weight."

Schuneman agrees: "I think you definitely want to mix it up with
different patterns and textures of throw pillows, so it doesn't
become a big blob in the room."

If you have extra space after choosing your sofa, Burnham
suggests focusing on adding chairs to your living room rather
than a loveseat.

Although loveseats seem to offer more seating than chairs, they
are often occupied by just one person. "A loveseat's a tough
one," she says, "because I don't think people want to be super
physically close" at parties.

Folding and Stacking

"Folding chairs are often eyesores," Flynn says, so he prefers
chairs that can be stacked when not in use. "My favorite stacking
chair is the Emeco Navy chair. It's super light, maybe 7 pounds
or so, and it's classic in design. When not in use, stack them
seven high in a closet and you'll never know they're there."

Burnham and Schuneman have each found a few types of stylish
folding chairs, but they tend to come with higher price tags. She
favors black bamboo folding chairs from Ballard Designs (about
$100) for rooms with a more traditional style, and has used clear
Lucite folding chairs ("kind of like the Philippe Starck ghost
chairs") in more modern living rooms.

Schuneman likes the fabric-covered "terai" folding chairs from
Anthropologie (about $200), and suggests they can serve as a
"great inspiration point for a DIY project." Try recovering the
cushion of an old upholstered folding chair "in some beautiful
fabric that works in your room," he says.

Planning carefully, shopping well and using a little DIY
creativity are the keys to solving any holiday seating dilemma,
says Schuneman.

"I always tell people to buy pieces that can move throughout your
home," he says, "so that chair in the guest room can come into
the living room, and that bench in the bathroom could double as
an extra surface for gifts or what not. If you purchase pieces in
your home that work throughout, it really maximizes your
potential."